How to recover....??!!

simonaspinall

Hi there

Does anyone have any tips for muscle recovery? My legs are dead after doing some hefty commuting and hill climbing day-in, day-out - Feels like they are full of lactic acid and lead!

Just stretching or rest or go kamikaze and do more training?

Rich158

I used to have the same issue, my commute is 22 miles each way with a few hills, and I do a club run on Sunday mornings, and recently I've had the same feeling, and just about every cold/virus going round the office.

I started with the commute and now try to vary how I ride, I have one interval session, followed by a faster then average ride (think just mildly uncomfortable) and then every third ride I make sure I have an easy recovery session. This has helped enormously. I've now moved on to my post ride nutrition and try to make sure I get enough protein in my post ride meal, something I wasn't doing before, and it's made a huge difference to the post ride soreness.

I've learn't to listen to what my body is telling me, if my leags feel dead and achey, then I ride a little slower, and give them a rest and a good stretch when I get home, and if it's really bad take a couple of days off the bike.

simonaspinall

Sounds like good advice rich - Will try and put it into practice!

Bhima

Remember, you're working your muscles - muscles need protein to recover, repair and grow. Most people know that carbohydrates are massively important after a ride but protein is as equally important.

The ideal ratio is either 4:1 or 3:1 of Carbohydrate:Protein... Not too sure on that one.

The exact amount needed depends on your body weight and intensity of training.

I put up a thread recently of how to achieve this very cheaply: [HERE]

That thread also has some info about showers: as soon as you get in, freeze your legs in the shower (it should feel harsh) and then heat them up again. Repeat for a bit and it will speed up recovery.

Alex_Simmons/RST

http://www.cyclecoach.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=111

BigStu2

Great link there Alex_Simmons, I believe its the sleep aspect that most people find hard to achieve, what with kids running around the house at night, household chores, work worries ect all conspiring to rob us of those extra couple of hours that we need. Tonight I might just close the door on the big mess out there and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz